Dornob:
If location, location and location are what drive your visions of a dream tree house design or luxury hillside wood home then look no further: fire towers that once served vital protective services to natural forests are becoming increasingly used for new purposes including mountaintop homes with incredible views.
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Fire towers are built high on the ridge of a mountain. The purpose of the fire tower is to spot fires in the mountains. I grew up near one in Oklahoma. It is built of rock!! I'd love to have it for a house. It is quite spacious. One woman, three dogs and three cats.....doable.
Weren't these things located in places where there is a consistent high probability of fire?
The highest and best use for these sites is for wind turbines. We need to increase clean energy production and what better location for wind turbines that the top of a mountain. Really, we need to start thinking in a whole new way.
Nice idea except for three points: First, these towers are relatively lightly built compared to good size wind turbines typically used for commercial energy production and there would be clearance issues getting the blades above the tree tops to maximize efficiency. As a result, the wind turbine would be limited in size and the power they could produce. Second, the existing power distribution infrastructure is likely not adequate to handle the task (if it is even present at all in some of the more remote sites). This adds expense that is tough to rationalize (in the economic sense) if the wind turbine is on the small size (see point #1). Finally, there will likely be issues with a turbine spoiling the landscape and I can guarantee you that someone will scream "not in my backyard!".
I can't imagine moving a dresser or couch up all those stairs. Just carrying up groceries would probably be an effort unless you set up some type of pulley system for moving even large items.
The first house looks like Baba Yaga house from the Russian lore :-)
Great views - it's like living in a tree house.
Existing ones are pretty primitive (most I think are sans flush toilets) and there is a very tiny kitchenette,
and limited water (def. camping or a cabin). Actually I think some places they are staffed by volunteers and are still used as fire lookouts, despite weather satellites and such.
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Posted: 08-18-09 11:48 AM